jazeera.com. welcome to al jazeera, i'm john siegenthaler in new york here is a look at the headlines tonight. the state department says there is no conclusive evidence about the alleged chemical weapons attack in syria, but opposition forces claim they have proof. the yosemite fire triples in size. one of america's most popular national parks is in threat. san diego's mayor may step down tomorrow. and a sinkhole drains water right out of the bayou. now a lawsuit is in the works. ♪

more international outrage tonight over allegations of chemical weapons attack in syria. now it is willing reported that not only were runs killed but emergency responders who helped the victims died too. here is what we know right now. president obama has directed the u.s. intelligence community to quickly gather information about the alleged use of chemical weapons. the u.s. state department says syrian rebels do not have the means for chemical war fair. but the government is denying it used any toxic weapons. we want to warn you the video we are about to show you is graphic. we cannot independently verify

that -- john what are you hearing from the un. >> we are hearing from officials all over the world today. but all of them keen to couch their words very carefully because as william hague said today this remains unkw unkwap -- uncooperated evidence. . -- let's hear from two leaders. >> translator: we are very concerned about the reports that chemical weapons have been used near damascus. should these reports turn out to be true, it would be a monstrosity. >> translator: if proven our position in france is that there needs to be a reaction.

what does that mean? not to send soldiers into the field, but an international condemnation, and i'm not going to be more precise, of force. >> we heard from the french mourn minister that the new president who has been about since may of last year, spoke to the secretary general of the united nations by telephone and talked about the probable use of chemical weapons. meanwhile here, moon says he has written to syrian government asking for permission for the 20 un inspectors on the ground to extend their mandate to look at this latest alleged chemical incident. >> are we hearing the same denials from the syrian government as we heard yesterday? >> yes. they have distances themselves from other chemical attacks as well.

this is the information minister for syria giving the latest syrian government line. >> translator: everything that has been said is ridiculous, naive, unscientific, logical and subjective. we mean what we are saying. there is not any use of that whe won at all. the mill stair depreciation that is take place on the ground is a successful one. and we're making progress. >> john what about next steps for the un. >> the head of disarmament has been dispatched. in the meantime in the next couple of days there will -- the number of refugees is likely to go over the 2 million mark. >> all right. john in new york tonight. thank you. and let's get more reaction now

from washington.heir investigation. here is the state department spokes woman. >> the red line has been clear.

i know there has been some confusion about this. the red line is the use of cw, the use of chemical weapons. that was crossed a couple of months ago. the president took action. while we are still focused on nailing down the facts, the intel and administration is focused on that. if these reports were true, it would be an outrageous and in t

american government or among the american public for something like that. >> mike, thank you. former egyptian hospital hosni mubarak was released from prison today and sent to a military hospital. when he is released, he will be

put under house arrest. >> reporter: a helicopter rises from the prison after hours of legal procedure, hosni mubarak is released, but his immediate destination is a very short ride down the road. his release at this stage is very much a technical term. he will remain under house arrest in terms of state of merge decree. a formal ban on leaving the country has also been imposed. >> translator: we have lost everything. now the police state and injustice will return. >> translator: we have an independent judiciary, and it is enough for them to have left power without violence against us. >> reporter: mubarak is expected to be back behind bars in his

court trial on sunday. on the same day in a different court, leaders of the muslim brotherhood that opposed mubarak for decades will also appear. they stand accused of inciting violence during the demonstrations that followed the takedown of the morsi government. the self style youth body that spearheaded protest, has called for courts to strongly pursue the prosecution of mubarak and morsi. and ironically it accuses the morsi government of not being aggressive enough in taking action against mubarak, and insists because of this, morsi must take responsibility for the release of the man he replaced. back here in the u.s. the wildfire burning near yosemite national park has more than tripled in size, the threat is to one of the country's most

treasured parks. it spans three counties and contains some of the country's most diverse wildlife. the fire encroaching it is now 84 square miles and only 2% contained. melissa chan is covering the fire. she joins us from threw the bed tape so resources can get here sooner. what is called the rim fire tripled in size in less than 24 hours. at one point licking close to the incident command center up in the mountains. >> it's not burn going yosemite national park, but it moving to the east toward the park.

there is a lot of interest in whether or not it will be directly impacted by the fire. the fire team here is -- is doing their utmost to keep it out of the park. >> for now, yosemite remains open, but only a small part of the fire remains contained. this is a remote and mountainous part of california, and one of many wildfires happening simultaneously across the united states. the government announced preparedness level 5, the highest on the scale. it means resources are stretched. teams move from fire to fire, hopscotching across states. many firefighters working 24-hour shifts. despite the size of the fire, there has been minimal loss to property so far. >> so we're just a strike team from sacramento, and we

are -- assigned to protection in the pine mountain lake area. we're just going through the area, checking it out. >> at least every decade we have a major fire up in this area, and i have been through several and been evacuated, and we did all right before. the pine mountain lake area -- there are so many houses and so many trees, one small area, that if it got in here, you know, i'm afraid that would be it. >> more help continues to arrive, but it's one tough

melissa chan thank you. we do have a change from last night in terms of the number of fires in the west as well as alaska. last night at this time, we were talking about 61 wildfires that have been burning. tonight we're down to 55. some of those as you have just seen have gotten bigger, but in terms of numbers we're actually down. let's take a look at what is happening across parts of idaho. . the thunderstorms have been popping up, the winds are coming from the south, and with the winds coming from the south, our

temperatures have been increasing. we're still looking at a lot of red flag warnings. the current temperature, 91 degrees. earlier they got up to 95. that's 7 degrees higher than what they saw yesterday, so the warm, dry air is not helping the situation, and as you saw in the video, we had some very poor air quality. back to you. thanks. next up on al jazeera, san diego's mayor might only have a few more hours on the job. word now of a deal he has reached with city officials. but bradley mannings shocking announcement.

sure that stories don't escape them. >> every day a storm of views. how can you fully understand the impact unless you heard angles you hadn't considered. consider this, antonio mora brings you smart conversation that challenges the status quo. stories that matter to you. my name is ranjani chakraborty, i'm from houston, texas, and i'm an associate producer for america tonight. i grew up in a very large, loud indian family. they very much taught me how to have a voice, and from a very young age i loved

writing, and i love being able to tell other people stories. the way to do good journalism is to really do your research, to know your story, to get the facts right, and to get to know the people involved in your story. america tonight and al jazeera america, it's a perfect place for that to happen. a judge has let the jury go home early and deliberations will resume on freye in nidal hassan's court-martial. heidi joe castro has more from fort hood, texas. >> reporter: his silence didn't surprise anyone. the army major gave no closing argument. he said all along, he's the killer. >> it's exceedingly rare where you have the prosecution and the

defense agreeing to the defense's guilt. >> reporter: chris jenks said the jury will find hassan guilty. the panel of 13 senior officers is now behind closed doors. they are looking through 1700 pieces of information including bullets from the shootings, paper towels that he stuffed into his pockets to mask the sound of the clinking bullets. and the pistol. guilt will be clear-cut for the jury. it's the sentencing phase that will pose for questions. jenks notes the u.s. has not executed a u.s. service member since 1961. >> historically that would suggest that major hassan will languish on death row and not

exactly be executed. >> reporter: things work differently in the military legal system. it follows a command structure, and any death penalty convict shup will trigger a series of automatic appeals that work their way all the way to the president. hassan has said he would be a martyr if executed. he may refuse a death penalty sentence, but in this case expect the unexpected. the soldier who massacred 16 afghan civilians apologized in court today for what he called an act of cowardous. a military jury will soon decide if he will spend the rest of his life behind bars or have a chance at parole. bradley manning says he wants to begin hormone treatment therapy to become a woman as

soon as possible. his lawyer says he'll do everything he can to make it happen. he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking classified information. president obama has unveiled a new plan to help cut the cost of college. he wants to use rating system that would judge schools on their affordability. college officials worry it would cost their institutions millions of dollars, but the president said making college affordable is an economic imperative. >> i think we should rate colleges on if they are helping all kinds of students succeed, and on outcomes. on their value to students and parents. so that means metrics like how much debt does the average student leave with? how easy it is to pay off? how many students graduate on time?

how well do those graduates do in the work force? because the answers will help parents and students figure out how much value a college truly offers. it's not only the cost of college that students have to worry about. there are also fees for tuition, books, and of course room and board. and as diane easterbrook reports, those are issues for the students. >> reporter: this high school senior is wading through college books with his dad. >> me, i feel like what i am looking for happens to be at yale. >> his parents have been stashing money away for their son's education since he was a baby. but their savings won't come close to pay for yale. >> it makes it very difficult

for the middle class and lower class person to get a good education. >> reporter: the problem also effects people trying to go to less expensive state schools. tuition fees have increased on average about 30% at colleges across the us. as a result, more than two-thirds of college students applied for some form of financial aid last year. >> we also tell students that only borrow what you need, and if you can get a second job or get a job to pay for it, we highly recommending that. >> reporter: capex helps match students to colleges they can afford. >> typically they having a agreements with four year institutions where all of your credits will transfer.

>> reporter: josh hopes to find a way to finance his ivy league dream without bankrupting his parents. attorney general eric holder is to challenge the voter id law in texas. the justice department says it violates the voting right's act. holder maintains the law was adopted with a purpose of making it harder for non-english speakers and racial minorities to vote. a tour bus overturned along a freeway outside of l.a. this afternoon. reports say it went off of the side of the road and rolled over. at least 50 people were hurt, five were air lifted to a nearby trauma center. regulators say they will meet with key market players after thursday's shutdown at the nasdaq. nasdaq is blaming the outage on connectivity issues.

developing news in the case involving a former nfl player and michael eaves joining us for more. >> earn hernandez one step closer to possibly facing life in prison. he was indicted in the murder charge of a former friend. defense attorneys say the case against him is circumstance stan shall. russian officials have guaranteed that olympic athletes and visitors will be welcome at the upcoming winter olympics. russia's controversial anti-gay law has drawn criticism from several human rights organizations. and the field for the final four of the little league weird series almost set. california and japan have

already advanced to the final four and will await the winners. all right. michael, thank you very much. a small community deep in louisiana's cajan community is being swallowed by a sinkhole. >> bayou corn is truly a paradise. >> reporter: one year ago the people here began to sense something was wrong. >> you could not walk outside. >> reporter: the smell of natural gas and crude oil was swirling around. the ground was trembling. and it was may 30, 2012, that dennis and wife floeting down the bayou noticed these bubbles coming straight up out of the water. natural gas, and then to the left, 50 feet, down this bio, a sinkhole was forming. what used to be a beautiful

marsh was now being sucked into the earth. >> trees were bobbing and then they would just sink. >> reporter: state and federal regulators arrived. assumption parish ordered the evacuation of the residents while officials tried to figure out what was happening. >> to our knowledge this has never happened anywhere in the world. >> houston based texas brian, louisiana says, is responsible. extracting and drilling for salt say they caused the collapse of the earth. and according to state emergency officials, creating danger on the surface. >> she was three when we evacuated and now she is four. >> reporter: for karla her bayou paradise is gone. they now are part of a federal

class action lawsuit against the company, seeking damages as their lives have been shaken. one year since the disaster, almost half of the people here have left, taking cash settlements from texas brine. for those who still live here, signs of frustration picket many of the homes, as do these, vents installed by texas brine. >> the biggest danger is the gas, explosives, the methane. >> it has hand and we have tried to respond in an appropriate way. >> reporter: state officials state could take three to five years to vent all of the gas, as the sinkhole now the size of nearly 20 football fields continues to grow. texas brine told us that nature will dictate what will happen here, yet state officials have

real doubts that bayou corn will ever be the same. and for optimistic residents who have said -- >> paradise is not lost yet. >> reporter: meanwhile, the state of louisiana is suing texas brine for the damage. and we'll have more information on our top story when we come back. the word reacts to sire's alleged chemical weapon's attack

my name is jonathan betz. i'm from dallas, texas, and i'm n betz. i'm from dallas, texas, and i'm an anchor for

welcome back to al jazeera. i'm john siegenthaler. the state department says it cannot conclusively determine if chemical weapons are used on syrian civilians. opposition forces claim hundreds died after the rocket attack including some first responders. the fire near yosemite has now tripled in size. it is only 2% contained down from 5% yesterday. former egyptian president, hosni mubarak was released from prison today. the syrian government denies using chemical weapons on its own people, we have more now from rob mathis.

>> reporter: a day after hundreds of syrians, including women and children were killed and injured, a search among the dead for missing relatives. syrian opposition says more than 1300 people died. an occasion strongly denied by the president's government. but the shocking pictures of the victims have brought swift international condemnation. >> reporter: >> translator: if proven our position in france is that there needs to be a reaction. what does that mean? not to send soldiers into the field, but an international condemnation. >> reporter: and the germans. >> translator: we are very concerned about the reports that chemical weapons have alleged to have been deployed near demass

cuss. these reports are serious and should they turn out to be true, it would be a monstrosity. >> reporter: un secretary general called for a thorough investigation of all reported incidents, but ultimately it will be up to the syrian government to give their permission. they continue to deny responsibility. >> translator: everything that has been said is ridiculous, naive, unscientific, logical, and subjective. we mean what we are saying. there's not any use of that weapon at all. the military operation that is taking place on the ground is a successful one, and our forces are make progress from all sides facing the armed groups. >> reporter: both russia and iran say if the news of the chemical attacks are accurate, it's most likely that rebel groups are behind the attacks.

one of the main opposition groupings has also called for an investigation. they say un inspectors already in syria, should urgently include wednesday's aprosty as part of their mandate. there have been claims and counterclaims of the use of chemical weapons over the last two years. rob mathisson, al jazeera. and tim crockett is a security analyst for al jazeera. he joins me now from atlanta to talk about the ongoing crisis in syria. welcome to you, tim. >> good morning. >> howe control of

your bodily functions. we didn't see any of the victims soiling themselves or showing that kind of contamination. so that was part of an argument against the use of that agent being used. >> it could be another chemical; is that right? >> certainly. definitely from what we have seen, and indeed with that many people being killed, some form of chemical perhaps was used. what type, we're unsure at this stage, and really until the inspectors or somebody goes in there to do a thorough investigation, and have access to the victims and a blood test

to ascertain what was used it is going to be very difficult to variety. >> finding out who used it, how do you that? >> again, we obviously had reports that a rocket attack was used during that period on that area. now obviously rockets are used to disseminate that type ofacti this is sort of very serious. >> yeah, absolutely. we heard today reports that the opposition forces don't have the means to launch aregime, perhap

using some form of chemical agent against their people. >> you said it you are talking it may have been several rockets in a concentrated area -- >> and what does that rocket contain, and how does itagain,

seen, we just don't have those answers. >> and it's hard to guess, but have you got any sense how long this investigation could take? >> really, they need to get in -- they need to sort of examine the victims, is going t

be to confirm. >> all right. thank you very much. san diego may be soon looking for a new mayor. reports say bob filner will resign as part of a deal to settle a sexual hararesment lawsuit. the city is expected to review the arrangement tomorrow. 17 women have accused the former congressman of sexually harassing them during his tenure. stephani well with

gloria alds red. she held a press conference with bob filner's exfiance by her side, in which she said she was not informed of the deal between the city and bob filner, and the tax payers should not have to pay any money to bob filner to leave office. >> we do not know the details of the reported deal, and we have not approved it. we are therefore concerned that the city council may be voting on this deal in a vacuum, and it that may contain terms which we and the tax pairs would find abhorrent. we would hope whatever resolution has been reached between the city and the mayor,

does not include the payment of any of the mayor's legal fees, past or future, or any payment to him whatsoever. >> so stephanie, what is next? >> at this >> all right. we'll be watching tomorrow with you stephanie. thank you very much. mexican police have pulled at least seven bodies from a mass grave found in the eastern

outskirts of mexico city. they will carry out dna tests to determine if the bodies are those that went missing from a bar in may. six people have been arrested in connection with the case, but no motivation has been reported. and south of the texas/mexico border, they are trying to make a come back. rachel levin reports. >> reporter: something unthinkable when this city was the most murderous in the world. at the height of the drug violence, ten people were killed every day.

few dared to leave their homes after the sun went down. at the other end of the park, a father leads memorial service for loved ones. >> we're in a very delicate moment that we want to get out of. the corruption and degradation of value. now we're trying to reconstruct this community, but we don't have the support, the economic resources. >> reporter: he recognizes that the government spent money, but he said it's not enough to change the root cause of the violence. security remains the priority. when a retired lieutenant was brought in as police chief, in one year the number of arres shot up from 1,000 to nearly 13,000. this sign says we demand justice

and stop the abuses. these protests against the city police have been happening now almost on a daily basis. and all of these people here say members of their family have been detained and thrown in jail without any evidence. one active duty officer who prefers to remain unidentified says the force remains above the law. >> reporter: they would suffocate them, beat them and electrocute them. >> reporter: repeated requests for interviews with the were denied. the father says every adult must lead by example. >> translator: we have told the children that they will be able to earn money honestly, so say no to corruption and drugs. so what happens if you can't sustain this? you kill hope.

which is the most important thing. >> reporter: a warning that if it is ignored and forgotten, the city and the country will pay the price again. >> now rachel joins us live from san afraid to

leave their homes. >> all right. rachel thank you very much. "n the ongoing fight. we'll see you then, joie thanks very much. the case against a former nfl player charged with murder took another turn today.

michael eaves joining us next with sports.

hi, my name is jonathan betz, and i'm from dallas, texas, and i'm an anchor for al jazeera america. i started in a small television station in rural arkansas. it's a part of the country that often gets overlooked. but there are a lot of fascinating people there, a lot of fascinating stories there. i like that al jazeera will pay attention to those kinds of places. what drew me to journalism is i like the idea that we are documenting history. al jazeera documents it like none other. and to be a journalist, and to be part of a team like that? that's an incredible blessing.

mission. >> there's more to america, more stories, more voices, more points of view. now there's are news channel with more of what americans want to know. >> i'm ali velshi and this is "real money." this is "america tonight." sglovrjs our -- >> our news coverage reveal more of america's stories. and welcome back, everyone, michael eaves is here with sports, and a very tough case for a former nflplayer. >> yeah. a grand jury in massachusetts has indicted the new england player, the indictment charges

him with killing a 27-year-old. hernandez pleaded not guilty to both the murder and gun charges in june, and is currently being held without bail. police have yet to find the murder weapon. attorneys for hernandez says they are confident they can clear their client's name. thursday a team from california and japan -- excuse me that was on wednesday -- earned spots in the little league world series for ids from california

have definitely been the rock stars of the tournament. they had to rally back last night, they tied it up at 3-3, and then in extra innings grant does it again. this kid is some kind of special. he is 6'4". he has two hits on the tournament. the other hit, a grand slam, so he is making it count. he has 23 strikeouts in ten-plus innings of work. needless to say grant has been the mvp of this tournament so far. so chew la connecticut and face them for the u.s. championship on

saturday. >> when you look at home and you see the size you are reminded of the story of denny tead of 13. >> i joked with him the other day, are you really 13? and he said absolutely, i am 13, 6'4", and his father is 6'5", so it's in genetics. 6'5". since he is 6'4", he is going to catch his father i believe. you also have a spark plug that will be talked to at an intere

about his long golden locks. we'll talk about that coming up at 11:00. all right. moving on to golf, some critics are actually trying to make the case that it has been a bad year for tiger woods, because he didn't win a major. today on the shores of new york harbor, woods starting the run at his third title. rain brought on two separate delays thursday, but they didn't seem to effect woods. woods is the only two-time winner of the fedex cup. so a solid year for him even without the major. i'll take the five wins. >> thanks very much, michael. a check on the weather is next, but before that check out what happened on a crowded beach in russia. a landing craft arrived out of

nowhere, and officials say it was on a regular drill on tuesday. and the beach was supposed to be empty because it is military property, but the people were there, and fortunately no one was hurt.

hello again and welcome back. earlier we showed you some images commenting out of the western part of the united states dealing with the wildfire situation there. i'm now going to show you images coming out of europe. this is one right here. it is out of portugal.

northern portugal is dealing with very dry, very warm conditions as well. in this region they don't have the resources and the amount of firefighters like we do in the united states. a lot of people have to take matters into their own hands. this woman is trying to put out the fire in her village. temperatures across the region are also very high. we are talking into the 90s. now i'm going to show you what we can expect to see down here. in the gulf of mexico we have this area of clouds and rain. in the western part of florida we have seen quite a bit of accumulations going on there. a lot of localized flooding there. temperatures though this evening, atlanta is already down to about 81, birmingham at 83, still very warm out here towards

louisiana at about 91. unfortunately tomorrow we expect to see quite a bit of rain all the way up the eastern seaboard. for atlanta, on sunday, 82 degrees, a chance of thunderstorms. over towards monday about 84 degrees. up to the northeast we had some showers pushing through new york. that causes some problems at the airport. those showers have moved away, but we have more showers making their way across new york and pennsylvania as well. look at the weekend, a beautiful weekend here in new york, temperatures only getting up to 80 and 81. very rainy conditions across the southwest. we expect to see phoenix and tucson seeing some rain in your forecast. that's a look at the forecast for the nation.

your headlines are up next. welcome to al jazeera, i'm john siegenthaler, and here is a look at tonight's top stories. the state department says it cannot conclusively determine if chemical weapons were used on syrian civilians. un inspectors are demanding access to the scene of the attack. the fire threatening yosemite national park more than trimmed in size. firefighters are losing the battle against the blaze. it is only 2% contained down from 5% yesterday. a tour bus overturned on a freeway outside of los angeles today. 50